Escape to Vista Celestial in Costa Rica with Katie Ziskind

The property will be exclusively booked for myself and ten yoga friends to ensure ultimate privacy and enjoyment. Rediscover your inner peace in our stylish and comfy villas,

bar and lounge areas. If you’re looking to rejuvenate your spirit in style, Vista Celestial is a perfect option. Enjoy sunrise and sunset yoga classes. After your yoga sessions with me you can enjoy the best beaches in Costa Rica as well as three fun day trips. Try snorkeling, horseback riding, and surfing! Experience Costa Rica's beautiful deserted beaches (more than 13 are protected as national park). Enjoy the surf, walks on an empty beach, and go for a refreshing dip in one of the many local waterfalls.

The property will be exclusively booked for myself and ten yoga friends to ensure ultimate privacy and enjoyment. Rediscover your inner peace in our stylish and comfy villas,

bar and lounge areas. If you’re looking to rejuvenate your spirit in style, Vista Celestial is a perfect option. Enjoy sunrise and sunset yoga classes. After your yoga sessions with me you can enjoy the best beaches in Costa Rica as well as three fun day trips. Try snorkeling, horseback riding, and surfing! Experience Costa Rica's beautiful deserted beaches (more than 13 are protected as national park). Enjoy the surf, walks on an empty beach, and go for a refreshing dip in one of the many local waterfalls.

I hope you are enjoying your winter here in Connecticut. I am happy to announce that I am hosting a yoga and surfing retreat this summer in Uvita, Costa Rica!

Join me July 16th to23rd for a full week in a tropical paradise! We’ll be staying a Vista Celestial, an intimate boutique hotel that is on the mountainside of a primary rainforest overlooking the pacific oceans. It is seriously a slice of heaven. Each villa is 1000 sq. ft. with its own private infinity hot tub for four. The large infinity pool has it’s own swim up bar, overlooks the ocean, and cozies up to the open dining room, which will be serving your breakfast and dinner daily.

If you are feeling landlocked and have no idea how to surf, fear not! We will be sharing private surfing lessons with some of the loveliest instructors in the town. They are known to get everyone standing up on their boards the first day! We will also go horseback riding to a waterfall, snorkel around a vibrant coral reef, and whale watch admits the calm, turquoise ocean.

We will begin our days will a longer yoga class, incorporating a little mythological storytelling, chanting, pranayama, and an all levels asana practice. Our daily evening practice will be meditative and followed by dinner.

Additional activities such as hiking to near by national parks, zip lining, and atv tours can all be added to your package, as well as spa services such as facials, manicures, and massages!

The trip includes:

Round trip non-stop airfare from Providence Airport

Round trip transportation between the airport and hotel

Shared accommodations in 1000 sq. ft. private villas- two queen sized beds, each with its own private infinity hot tub/pool for four

Breakfasts and dinners

Daily morning and evening yoga practices with Katie Ziskind

Day trips

Transportation once a day from the hotel, down the mountain to the beach

Fifty percent of the full payment is due by January 10th

The full $3060 is due by April 10th

Space is limited! Reserve your spot now!

Unlock your inner god or goddess on the trip of a lifetime! I hope you can make it!

Sid McNairy's 200 Hour Lifeline Power Yoga Teacher Training

Sid McNairy and Lindsay Lusignea shared their yoga knowledge with eight teachers-in-training over the course of six weeks. Combined of three one-week long intensives and three one week long breaks, the teacher training covered everything from the art of assisting to the tone of voice used while teaching. I felt empowered learning the proper techniques for assisting, practices for alignment and the most crucial, the entrance and exit upon giving an assist to a student in a pose. Lindsay spent the first Saturday teaching about assisting, Sid spent the second Saturday speaking to Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and Saturday, July 16th, was spent practicing yoga, refining "voice," and practicing again during Sid's master class two hour workshop and concluded with an all vegan potluck at the studio owner's house.

In addition to the mechanics of teaching a class, the seven other teachers-in-training and I looked internally finding self-love and radiating it out of this galaxy! I encountered the joy and pain of being myself, a full-spectrum of emotions, and contemplated how interesting it is to be me! I found the freedom to take my practice to a new level as I learned how to bind my arms in Side Angle, Crescent Lunge and Chair Pose. On this note, my fear and preconceived notions faded as I found the freedom to cultivate peace.

Yoga Alliance is the national education and support organization for yoga in the United States. "We work in the public interest to ensure that there is a thorough understanding of the benefits of yoga, that the teachers of yoga value its history and traditions and that the public can be confident of the quality and consistency of instruction." Go to www.YogaAlliance.org for more information. 200 hour trainees: The teacher training program is a Registered Yoga School (RYS) through Yoga Alliance.

Children's Teacher Yoga Training

The weekend of March 20-21 2010, I became certified to teach children's yoga from Sri Lani Rosen-Gallager. Through this two day, 12 hour teacher training I learned many new poses, yoga games and great way to keep children interested and active. On day one we worked with partners, breathing exercises and relaxation.

My favorite partner pose, partner trees, symbolizes the support of good friends and family through life. The partners hold one hand or two while doing tree pose, helping each other balance while making eye contact.

The breathing exercises were also interesting. I personally liked when we each received a peacock feather and saw how our breath moved the intricate and delicate feathers. I have peacock feathers and plan to use this exercise in my own teachings.

The best part of class, besides the fun stretching, is relaxing. The soft, eye pillows sent me deep into meditation as a hint of lavender floated across my nose. This made a lasting impression on me. I have made my own set of eye pillows for the children I teach. Lani has a sewing machine, so she was a big help in making them with me!

The second day of Lani's teacher training we learned about yoga books for children, different props, lesson planning, practice teaching and behavioral challenges. One book I have already purchased upon Lani's recommendation is YogaKids: Educating the Whole Child Through Yoga by Marsha Wenig. Another great picture book I have found on my own, Yoga For Children by Mary Stewart.

I have also taken Lani's recommendation for various props such as smiling suns, fabric flowers and hand stamps as an incentive. Finding my way through the yoga prop world has been an adventure in itself. I have picked out Hawaiian leis for a beach yoga class and large foam butterflies for fun. I am sewing zebra patterned bean bags for name games too.

Behavioral challenges can be difficult, but easily managed by an experienced yogi. My classes run from 30 to 45 minutes for children, so I do not let them leave the room to get snacks or water since it is a short class. Bathroom breaks vary between the ages of pre-school to firth graders. I encourage everyone to goto bathroom before class, but I only let elementary age yogis goto the bathroom alone. If a pre-school yogi has to take a bathroom break, the whole class comes along.

Natural Yogis

Children are natural yogis. They move their bodies in ways that feel good to them, almost effortlessly, without a thought of why they are doing it! Yoga will ensure children have a lifetime of exercise, joyful bodies and minds and health and strength.

Music and Sound

Music and sound therapy together with coordinated hand movements can develop concentration, breath coordination, communication and motor skills. Studies have shown repetition of certain sound patters produce a calming and healing effect on the nervous system and mind.